The first thing that I looked for was the incumbent votes -- particularly Jesse Middendorf, whom the extremely conservative/fundamentalist Protestant activist group, Concerned Nazarenes, had personally gone after. If there was to be a strong conservative move in the Assembly, I thought that it would be present there.

Dr. Middendorf had the highest percentage re-election:879 yes; 41 no. Dr. G. K Warrick was re-elected with the second highest percentage: 867 yes; 58 no. Dr. Jerry Porter had "weakest" showing, with still well over 95% yes: 853 yes; 65 no. I would guess that the buzz during assembly created by "Concerned Nazarenes," if anything, had a negative effect on their cause. I think that it is save to say that American fundamentalism, with the internationalization of the church, is not going to happen this quadrenium and probably, without deep cultural and theological shifts, will not happen to the Church of the Nazarene like it did with the Southern Baptists. We just are too anchored in the larger Christian catholic tradition and too international to be coopted by a political/theological interest group isolated in the midwest and south of the United States.

The first two ballots for new General Superintendents have been cast. In the first ballot, the six leading vote getters were:

Crocker 166
Bowling 144
Duarte 144
Valvassoura 112
Graves 101
Bustle 99

Of these, three of the top four were not from the United States and Louie Bustle has
been head of the missions for the Church. It shows the intent of the assembly to move toward a non-North American as a General Superintendent.

The second ballot showed a large drop off of many on the ballot. I couldn't get the numbers as it went so quickly: Here were the top three:
Crocker 165
Duarte 156
John Bowling 113

Duarte moved up; Crocker stayed about the same and Bowling fell off substantially. This trend continued in the results of the third ballot:

Duarte 224
Crocker 214
Bowling 109
Valvassoura 89

629 ballots needed for election. It is a long way, but my guess is that Duarte or Crocker will be the first General Superintendent of the three to be elected. We are becoming international, not only in numbers now, but in authority. The North American focus/perspective of the church is going to be harder and harder to sustain.

The fourth ballot is taken: 633 to elect

Duarte 342
Crocker 221
Bowling 90
Valvassoura 83

The fifth ballot is in. One more ballot tonight and will announce first thing in the morning:

Duarte 481
Crocker 184
Bowling 65
Valvassoura 62
Graves 37

My guess is that tomorrow morning they will announce Duarte as a new General Superintendent. I'll see if I can find out some information about what that means.

My guess is that they are going to try and get an election tonight to announce for news -- particularly with a non-North American. After the next ballot it will be apparent whether Duarte's momentum will continue. My guess is two or three more ballots to elect him. I just met him last night very briefly and know nothing about him except he is the newly named regional director of the African region.

A third area of voting -- of which status I am not aware, but of significance -- is the formation of a shorter "global Manual." This is tricky work, for the Manual is like an old building that has various types of interrelationships that have formed over the years. It seems to me that they are about to make a mistake in not having any rites in the Manual. This could be a serious issue, as the Membership Rite defines the relationships between various parts of the Manual. If you get regional variations of the Membership ritual, you will basically get different churches. Moreover, if you don't have a common baptism and Eucharistic ritual, of course, the connection of the Church with the church catholic and the communion of saints becomes endangered. Also tricky is what behaviors are "contextual" and which ones are not. I believe that the decision was made to provide a version of this for approval at the next Assembly.

Now they are working through district polity. Pretty dry stuff. Now they are making sure that the district secretary when they change positions, pass on the records to their successor. Practical problems with legislative cures!

That's it for tonight! Good energy here and an interesting evening. We begin a 10:00 in the morning, East Coast time.